New Work/Work in Progress

Twinning

“In the Two we experience the very essence of number more intensely than in other numbers, that essence being to bind many together into one, to equate plurality and unity.Our mind divides the world into heaven and earth, day and night, light and darkness, right and left, man and woman, I and you—and the more strongly we sense the separation between these poles, whatever they may be, the more powerfully do we also sense their unity.”

–Karl Menninger (1893-1990, American psychiatrist)

“The opposite is beneficial; from things that differ comes the fairest attunement; all things are born through strife.”

–Heraclitus (c. 540-c. 480 BC, Greek philosopher)

It is my belief that we are each a marrying of two. In actuality, it is likely more complex than this, but I have the thought that we are all essentially dichotomies.We each possess opposite but equal parts. Some halves are hidden (but no less powerful), some halves push and pull against each other, some halves harmonize.Sometimes the two selves quarrel, and sometimes the two selves complement each other. And sometimes maybe those halves possess their own halves.

It’s easy to identify some dichotomies in ourselves:we all tend to recognize that we can have both male and female attributes, or attributes that we might associate with “good” or “bad”.But we also are far more subtle and complex than that, especially in a dream state where lines between consciousness and unconsciousness can blur and become indistinct.

In some facets of or lives, the twin-ness is acceptable, and integration is not necessary, but at other times, it’s important to reconcile and integrate the two. Sometimes, it’s only important to recognize the dichotomy. In the middle, after the integration, what we may find is a neutrality.

Topsy-Turvy (detail)

Cotton fabric, iron-on transfer paper-- 2013

Topsy-Turvy (detail)

Cotton fabric, iron-on transfer paper

Topsy-Turvy

Cotton fabric, iron-on transfer paper-- 2013

The Cassowary Bird Topsy-turvy

The Human Animal Topsy-turvy

The Phoenix and the Dragon Topsy-turvy

The Seahorse Topsy-turvy

The Bat Topsy-turvy

The Snail Topsy-turvy

Alchemical Androgyne

cotton muslin, acrylic paint, tar paper-- 2013

Alchemical Androgyne (detail)

She's Come Undone

muslin, inkjet transfer paper, zipper-- 2013

Shadow Selves

hard-shell, acrylic paint, cheese cloth, embroidery thread-- 2013

Shadow Selves

Shadow Selves (detail)

Shadow Selves (detail)

Shadow Selves (detail)

Shadow Selves (detail)

Shadow Selves (detail)

Shadow Selves (detail)

Shadow Selves (detail)

Shadow Selves (detail)

Shadow Mandala #2

ink jet prints on paper, insulation board, and thread

Shadow Mandala #3

ink jet prints on paper, insulation board, and thread

Shadow Mandala #1

ink jet prints on paper, insulation board, and thread

Shadow Mandalas (detail)

Shadow Mandalas (detail)

Shadow Mandalas (detail)

The Head Case Studies 2D

These prints reference the incorporeal and the corporeal; our connectedness and our disconnectedness; our mortal natures vs. the immortal; the earthly and the unearthly.

Being primarily a 3D artist, when I do work two-dimensionally, I prefer methods that are very tactile. Pulling monotypes is a way for me to do that. Painting on the glass, pressing it to paper, and then altering the print and adding to it, also offers me a spontaneity I can’t always achieve when working 3-dimensionally. And, of course, adding actual 3-dimensional elements satisfies my inability to let a 2D surface remain a strict 2D surface.

The Head Case Studies 3D

Thomas

felt, yarn, found objects, wood-- 2012

Dee

felt, yarn, found objects, wood-- 2012

Mimi

felt, yarn, found objects, wood-- 2012

Oddity

This work deals with concepts of discombobulation, confusion, being out of sorts or not in harmony with events and surroundings-- Ideas of escape from an overworked mind and obsessive thinking, and of being able to reorganize the body in hopes of forming a new reality for one's self. The new "reality" which is created is, however, a sort of surreal dream state, in which nothing completely feels right or makes sense--where action is redundant and blind.

Trial by Fire

According to fire ecology, the study of fire and its relationship to living organisms, fire is a necessity for propagation. Certain plant life has evolved to depend on fire as a means to clear out the old and dying so new life can take hold. Seeds are split open by the heat, and the ground is fertile with ash.

Trial by Fire explores themes of devastation followed by the cycle of rebirth. Referenced are eggs, seeds and cast away skins, all signs that the metamorphosis has begun. Salt, also attributed with purifying and preservation affects suspends the moment of purity in time, holding the cycle’s completion in stasis.

The majority of the work created for Trial by Fire, utilizes fire in some way in its fabrication. Clay must be exposed to extreme heat to become vitreous. Furthermore, clay work has been stained with fire and smoke in the smoke-firing process. Paper and wood have been blistered and scorched with fire.

Many of the photos on this page are by photographer, Melissa Humphries.

Purified (detail)

paper, plaster, wood, rock salt-- 2010

Purified

paper, plaster, wood, rock salt-- 2010

Burnt Offerings (in progress)

plaster, wood, found objects, fire-- 2010

Burnt Offerings (in progress)

plaster, wood, found objects, fire-- 2010

Burnt Offerings

plaster, wood, found objects-- 2010

Burnt Offerings

plaster, wood, found objects-- 2010

Installation view of Trial By Fire

Salted With Fire (detail)

paper and rock salt-- 2010

Salted With Fire (detail)

paper and rock salt-- 2010

Salted With Fire (detail)

paper and rock salt-- 2010

Salted With Fire (detail)

paper and rock salt-- 2010

Salted With Fire (detail)

paper and rock salt-- 2010

Salted With Fire (detail)

paper and rock salt-- 2010

Salted With Salt

found objects, wood, twine, salt-- 2010

All My Eggs In One Basket

smoke-fired earthenware, paper-- 2010

Insomnia

smoke-fired earthenware-- 2010

Fire Ecology

gourds, paper, wool cord-- 2010

Fire Ecology (detail)

gourds, paper, wool cord-- 2010

Century Eggs

smoke-fired earthenware-- 2010

Rote Dysfunction

In this body of work, I’m exploring themes of a personal yet universal nature, using my created vocabulary of object symbols. The major themes in this work are dysfunction and repetition; or more specifically, the dysfunctional nature of repetition—the well-worn rut in the brain that leads to certain compulsions, negative thinking, and the otherwise fruitless over-workings of the mind. While specific themes are personal in nature, I believe one can also see these dynamics play out on the larger familial and societal scale.

Blue Bells (installation view at the Carillon Building in Charlotte, NC)

earthenware, wood, flocking-- 2008

Blue Bells (detail)

earthenware, wood, flocking-- 2008

Made On A Monday

screenprint-- 2007

Untitled- Collaboration with Lee Swallie

mixed media screenprint-- 2007

Untitled- Collaboration with Lee Swallie

mixed media screenprint-- 2007

Untitled- Collaboration with Lee Swallie

mixed media screenprint-- 2007

Untitled- Collaboration with Lee Swallie

mixed media screenprint-- 2007

Untitled- Collaboration with Lee Swallie

mixed media screenprint-- 2007

Old Skin

Artista Vista: Install It 3-- Old Skin

Old Skin represents the breaking free of individual oppressive concepts, of breaking out of old habits. Like burned skins we can peel away or seeds that break open when exposed to heat or fire, there is new growth under and within. This work is a continuation of ideas explored in another body of work, Trial by Fire. Trial by Fire investigated themes of adversity and destruction. These figures are post adversity, post destruction. A new life is beginning, free from obstruction, but we’re seeing the process as it begins as the figures are just breaking free of their outmoded skins.

Old Skin (detail)

plaster shell, singed paper, soil and grass-- 2013

Old Skin

plaster shell, singed paper, soil and grass-- 2013

Ghost Trees

Ghost Trees, Artista Vista 2012: Install It

Once, where this city now stands, there was a lush natural environment—a primal landscape of trees, grasses, weeds. Animals roamed, climbed and burrowed. The human animal eventually moved in and now we have this city. Concrete covers most of the bones of a less structured life. Here and there, we see evidence of this life working to reclaim its original hold on this land.

This alley way is an example of the struggle to keep hold of this spot of earth—to keep it tamed, to keep tucking it back under the layers of brick and pavement. When I walked through it for the first time, I was struck first by the unruly and beautifully green grass shooting out of clusters, not caring one bit for the broken glass and other litter of city life. I noticed the sizable tree stumps left over here, and tried to picture in my mind this little approximation, this little ghost of a previous incarnation of this spot of earth.

These ghost trees are meant to remind us of the past, but also of what’s waiting just under the surface, to take hold again as soon as our diligence falters and our backs are turned. These ghost trees are cast from the trunks of actual trees, using a process of layered paper and adhesive.

Ghost Trees

paper, wire, adhesive, led lights-- 2012

You Are Here

You Are Here- Artista Vista: Install It

The individual’s path in itself is an illusion, a construct of our minds—a way to label our experiences. Through linear thought and time we perceive a series of moments as a life’s trajectory, nearing a destination of sorts, possibly many throughout a lifetime. Our paths are myriad-- some labeled as good and others bad. Each path, we feel, must lead to a destination where it can diverge and a decision can change the course of that path. The installation’s title, You Are Here, suggests that in actuality we have already reached our destinations, and the destination is rife with potentialities. It is only necessary to become aware that this moment is the only moment, and we arrive at our destinations again and again.

But what does it take for this moment to happen, for you to be where you are right now? If you’ve ever been in the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time, you may have wondered. It could have been a series of seemingly innocuous events that directed you in another direction or decision.

By mapping our respective paths to arrive at this space, in front of this installation on this night documents a convergence of our individual physical paths. As we merge, it is my hope that we recognize the enormous capacity of this moment to be a moment of infinite potential.

You Are Here (detail)-- 2011

Fire Ecology

Tapp's Window InstallationColumbia, SC2011

According to fire ecology, the study of fire and its relationship to living organisms, fire is a necessity for propagation. Certain plant life has evolved to depend on fire as a means to clear out the old and dying so new life can take hold. Seeds are split open by the heat, and the ground is fertile with ash.